Chapter 3.3: The Love Trapping Plan
1359 Words
Hanni's eyes widened to the size of saucers upon hearing his answer. "No—" She opened her mouth to scream a denial, but Al's hand clamped over her mouth with lightning speed.
"You heard me, Mom. Hanni is the only one I will ever marry," Al reaffirmed into the phone, making sure his mother heard it loud and clear—and making sure Hanni heard the absolute certainty in his voice.
(Well...) His mother started to speak, but Al cut her off before she could finish.
"That's enough for now, Mom. I'll be back tomorrow and we can discuss it then."
Al abruptly ended the call, sliding the phone away before turning his full attention to Hanni, who was fiercely trying to pry his large hand away from her mouth.
"Are you completely out of your mind, Al?!" Hanni barked the second he released her, thoroughly angered that he had brought up marriage and dragged her name into his family mess.
"I just don't want to be forced to marry some stranger I've never even met."
"Then why did it have to be me?!" she demanded, pointing a finger at her own chest in utter disbelief.
"I just... I couldn't think of anyone else in the heat of the moment."
"This is unacceptable! Call your mom back right now and tell her that I am absolutely not marrying you!"
"Didn't you just say you were going to help me?" Al's face fell, his expression instantly returning to that heavy, depressed state.
"Helping you is one thing, but marrying you is a whole different story!" she yelled, her frustration boiling over.
Silently, Al rose from his chair and began walking away from the table.
"Al! Where are you going?" Marco called out, attempting to stop him, but Al kept walking, his shoulders hunched.
"Al..." Hanni mumbled, suddenly feeling a pang of guilt. She knew she had snapped at him too harshly, but she had just been so shocked by his sudden declaration to his mother.
"Let him have some space for a moment. He looks incredibly overwhelmed right now," Pita said, holding Marco back as he prepared to follow Al.
"Al is being so difficult lately," Hanni grumbled, crossing her arms defensively.
"You have to understand his situation, Hanni. He's completely depressed right now and can't think straight."
"Even if he can't think straight, he shouldn't just throw my name around to his mother like that," Hanni argued, still refusing to admit she might have overreacted.
"But you promised you'd help him. Do you have any idea how much hope lit up in his eyes when you said that? He didn't even want to answer his mother's call, but you were the one who pushed the phone into his hands and forced him to take it," Pita pointed out. Her words hit the mark perfectly; Hanni knew she was entirely responsible for that.
"But I..."
"When a person is completely trapped in a corner and someone offers to help, it gives them the strength to find a way out. But the way you just reacted completely destroyed his last shred of hope," Marco added, piling on the guilt until Hanni truly felt like the villain of the story.
"But this is a massive deal, you guys! It involves my entire future! And what about my brother Devi? How am I supposed to handle him?"
"I don't know how you're going to handle that, but right now, Al is literally walking into the ocean!" Marco yelled, pointing a finger toward the shoreline.
True to his words, Al was currently wading deep into the sea, the water already reaching up to his waist.
"Al!" Hanni bolted from her chair, running toward the water faster than anyone else.
"Wow, he really knows how to commit to a scene," Marco whispered to Pita the moment Hanni ran out of earshot.
"I'm actually starting to feel a little bad for Hanni," Pita admitted, watching her friend run frantically.
"Hey, no changing sides now. We're in this together."
"Al! Al! Come back to the shore, Al!" Hanni screamed, plunging straight into the freezing waves without a single thought for her own safety.
"..." Al continued walking forward, completely ignoring her pleas.
"Al, please get out of the water! I am so sorry!" Hanni cried out, throwing her arms around him from behind, pinning his arms to his sides to stop his forward momentum. Her face was completely pale with terror at the thought of witnessing someone end their life right in front of her.
"Even if I go back, nothing will change," Al muttered, his voice hollow.
"It will change... I promise it will! I'll help you, Al! I'll do it!" she sobbed, entirely unable to let her friend drown before her eyes.
"Really?" A surge of pure elation rushed through Al's veins upon hearing her words, but he forced his expression to remain blank and defeated.
"Yes, really, Al! Now please, let's just get back to the shore, I beg you," she pleaded, pulling at his arm with all her might to drag him out of the deep water.
"..." Al finally turned around to face her, silently gazing down into her anxious eyes.
"Hey, come over here and help me! Don't just stand there watching!" she shouted, waving frantically at Pita and Marco.
"Man, he's acting as heavy as an anchor," Marco complained under his breath as they reached the pair, making a big show of hauling and pulling Al back to dry land.
"I've agreed to help Al," Hanni officially announced to Pita and Marco, her voice trembling slightly. She simply couldn't bear the thought of Al hurting himself.
"Thank you so much, Hanni," Al said softly, reaching out to grasp her hand tightly.
"You're doing the right thing, Hanni. Honestly, no one else can save Al from this mess except you."
"Wait, Pita can help too! You're a girl, Pita, you could marry Al instead," Hanni suggested, the sudden thought offering a glimmer of hope.
Hearing this, Al immediately dropped her hand, his expression darkening.
"I can't," Pita quickly shut down the idea. "I have to return to Japan in a few weeks to help my parents with their business. I won't be around to help him."
"If you're doing this entirely against your will, Hanni, then don't force yourself to help me," Al said, making a deliberate move to turn back toward the ocean.
"I'll help... I'm helping! I'm not forcing myself at all," she rushed out, her heart heavy. She had never seen Al look so fragile and defeated before, and his uncharacteristic vulnerability completely broke her defenses.
"Let's just go back and sit at the table first," Marco suggested, guiding Al back toward the seating area. Al was perfectly playing the part of a deeply broken, hopeless man.
"I'll take Hanni to go change into some dry clothes. Al, you should go change too," Pita instructed, leading a visibly anxious and distracted Hanni away from the beach.
"I really don't understand how things suddenly got this complicated," Hanni sighed as she walked beside Pita.
"Who knows? Maybe this will turn out to be a good thing in the end."
"I seriously don't see how this could ever be a good thing."
"Just look at it as doing a good deed to save a friend."
"I'm only doing this because Al is my friend."
"Exactly. He's completely lost right now, and knowing he has your help probably means the world to him."
"It's just so hard to believe that Al could be this fragile."
"Well, no one can be strong all the time."
Meanwhile, back at the shore, Marco stared intently at Al's face, a slow smirk spreading across his lips.
Seriously... is this guy a professional actor or what?
- Writer
